Flack & Angell; #11 "The Mask"
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Rated: T Spoiler Alert: minimal for Point Of No Return Disclaimer: All CSI:NY characters belong to CBS.
My Characters: Detective Chad Harrison, Nick Waldman, Brandon Pauley, Guy Nichols, Adam Fuller, and Pete Zimmerman.
Although my 10-part First Dates series is finished, this story does come on the tails of it and includes references from "Surprised".
Also, just to keep things simple, I'm going to continue numbering my stories, hence the "#11".
An excerpt from "Surprised"...
"I figured that since you have to be kept awake tonight because of your concussion, that maybe we could stay up together and talk." He said, shifting his feet nervously.
"I don't know that I'm read to talk about it yet, Flack. Or if I even want to." Angell said, but not making eye contact.
"Jess," He reached out for her arm.
She pulled away, "You made me feel embarrassed and unwanted when you found out. How do you think that made me feel?" She asked, but it wasn't really a question.
"Jess, I wasn't the one who left."
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#11 "The Mask"
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Hotel rooms... they were dirty, sleazy places, with beds that countless people had been in. Flack, being the neat-freak he was, hated them and thought his day would get better as soon as he could get out of there. He was wrong, but at least the day was over and the case was closed.
Flack sat at his desk in the bullpen and ran his hands over his face before leaning back in his chair and stretching. It had been a long and strange day. 'Organ harvesting for drugs. Geez, Marty, who does a crazy thing like that?' Flack's brain just couldn't take in any more of this. Between Marty Pino and things being awkward between him and Angell, his brain was just fried. It was late, but he needed a run to clear his head. He called up Danny, who was bored without Lindsay around right now, to join him.
'Shit, Stella. Why didn't ya tell Mac?' Angell was frustrated, mostly with herself, 'I shoulda just told Mac myself.' She added, sitting in the locker room and running her hands through her hair to gather it into a pony tail. 'How could something that started out so right turn out so wrong?' She asked herself, referring to trapping Kolivos in a shipping container headed for Cyprus, then finding Diakos dead with coins on his eyes. 'An anonymous call? An anonymous call! Damn it! How did this get so screwed up?' Her head was swimming with all these thoughts. Throw in how things were going between her and Flack and by the time she finished lacing up her shoes, she was desperate to get out of there. She knew a run would do her good, even a short one. It had only been 2 days since her brother gave her that concussion so she wouldn't get far before a headache hit, but she'd take what she could get.
"Hey, Angell!" Messer called up from the bottom of the precinct steps as she was exiting the building.
"S'up, Messer?" She greeted.
"Flack and I are going for a run," He answered, gesturing to Flack who was leaning against a nearby car tieing his shoes, "Looks like you're going for one, too. Wanna join us?"
"I'm good. Thanks anyway." Angell said to Danny before taking off.
"What?" Messer asked approaching Flack, "You two have a fight or something?"
"What makes you ask that?" Flack asked, playing innocent. "Jess always runs alone."
Messer rolled his eyes, "Never mind. I've had enough drama for one day. Let's just go."
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
The previous night's run had helped, but not enough for Angell to get a good night's sleep and she had been right about the headache. It was very early, about four a.m. she guessed, but she was tired of laying in bed and decided going to the gym before her shift would be a good way of working off some of her frustration.
Flack lay awake, staring at the ceiling. He didn't have to get up yet, as it was still very early and dark outside, but knew he wasn't going to succeed in going back to sleep either. So he got up, deciding to work off some of his frustration at the gym before shift.
Angell didn't have time to go over to the 424's gym like she usually would, but their's had a bag for kickboxing, so it would do. It was early enough that there weren't too many other officers, mainly the men, there yet, for which she was grateful. She had a new move to practice. One her brother, who owns a martial arts studio in Jersey, had taught her. It was a bit awkward, requiring both feet to leave the ground, and would take some work to master, but she was determined.
It's a good thing the punching bag wasn't a perp or Flack would be charged with unnecessary force. The weights had been a good workout, but he needed the punching bag to get his heart rate up and let off some steam. He was just finishing when he noticed another guy with his back to him and leaning against his bag to rest, but when he didn't move for a while Flack walked over, just to make sure the guy was okay.
Angell was pleased with the progress she'd made on the new move and was just finishing her kickboxing workout when she heard the familiar voice behind her, "You have a very strong kick, Detective." She turned to see Flack standing there with a smirk on his face. "Does it help if you pretend that bag is me?"
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
Detective Angell and Detective Chad Harrison had a lead on their perp and needed to grab him while he was still sleeping, since he'd probably been up partying all night. Serving an arrest warrant at 5:45a.m. wasn't fun, but at least they'd had the element of surprise and it looked like they were going to get back to the precinct before it started raining.
"You go ahead and respond to the call, guys. Harrison and I will take him in." Angell said to the two officers who had accompanied them.
"Ya gotta believe me, man. I didn't do it." Pete Zimmerman said, protesting as Angell and Harrison put him in the back of their car.
Harrison was in the back seat with the perp and Angell had just gotten in the driver's seat when suddenly a bullet came through the center of the front windshield of their car. Angell went straight for her gun as she turned around to see Detective Harrison was hit in the chest. She was reaching for the radio to call for backup when two men opened the two front doors of the car. With one on each side of her, she could only point her gun at one of them. Since the one at her driver's side door was already grabbing her, she fired and grazed the one that had come at her from the passenger side door. It was only 6am, so the streets were still fairly quiet, but the sun was now up and she could see they were both dressed in all black; pants, long sleeved shirts, gloves, even ski masks. There was nothing to identify them.
"Drop it! Drop it and get out!" The one at her driver's side door ordered as he held a knife to her throat while dragging her out of the car after she dropped her gun down at her feet. If her gun could not be in the safety of it's holster, as at least she wanted it as far away from them as possible.
Angell was mad, really mad, and that kickboxing move she'd been working on was about to come in handy as the next several minutes looked like a two-against-one kickboxing match. The two men were more interested in just getting away, that is until Angell pulled off one of their ski masks. That's when she looked up and saw a third masked man standing above her pointing a gun at her. Her own gun.
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"9-1-1. What is your emergency?" The operator asked.
"We need help here. These men, they just shot him, he's still in the car. We can't tell if he's alive. And the lady, they just... they just took her." The citizen rambled on.
"Slow down, ma'am. I need you to slow down and tell me where you are." The operator instructed.
"East 35th & Hillman. Hurry."
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
Flack ran his hands through his hair in frustration as the ambulance pulled away with Harrison. He saw Mac ducking under the crime scene tape and quickly walked over. "Mac, they took her. They took Jess."
"I heard. What have we got for leads?" Mac asked in a calm but serious tone, wanting to give Flack something to focus on.
"Witnesses say she fought with two of the men, then a third one pointed a gun at her, cuffed her, and forced her into a white van with dark windows. That's it. That's all we've got. No license plates. Nothing. And now it's raining hard, washing away evidence." Flack said in frustration.
"There's always something, Flack. Always. We just have to find it. But you're right about the rain, so let's hurry." Mac assured him, opening his kit.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"Boss, you're gonna wanna see this!" Adam said from the doorway of Mac's office where he was having a brainstorming session with, Flack, Stella and Messer. They were trying to come up with ideas on where to start looking for Angell or who could have taken her and why.
"What is it, Adam?" Mac asked as they all stood.
"I just got the footage from the street cam." Adam replied.
In the A/V lab...
"This camera angle is from across the street. It's the only view we've got, plus the sun was just coming up so the lighting is not the best, and the rain doesn't help the clarity." Adam said beginning his step-by-step narration as they all stood in front of the large wall monitor. "There's a flash from a gun in the corner of the screen, that's the bullet that went through the front windshield and hit Harrison, there are the two men approaching, then there is another flash of gunfire inside the car, presumably from Angell, the way the guy jumped back makes me think she hit him, then they drag her out onto the sidewalk with what looks to be a knife, then she kicks some ass for a while until a third man approaches who goes into the car via the drivers-side door and comes out with what appears to be Angell's gun, then he points it at her at which point all the fighting stops, they cuff her with her own cuffs, then the three leave in a van taking Angell and the perp Paul Zimmerman with them." Adam turns around to face his colleagues and can tell by the looks on their faces that they'd hoped he would have more. "That's it, that's all there is." Adam adds.
"Adam, back that footage up to the fighting part." Messer requests and Adam complies. "There, right there, Mac. It looks like Angell pulls off the guy's mask."
"You're right, Danny." Mac says. "She did."
"You think that's why the took her, Mac. Because she could ID one of them?" Flack asks.
"It's probable, Flack. We need to analyze that mask right away." Mac says.
"But, Mac, we didn't recover a mask at the scene." Stella said, looking down at the evidence log.
"Neither one of you found a mask?" Mac asks, looking back and forth between Messer and Stella. They both shake their heads.
Mac turns back to Adam, "Adam, I want you to let this footage keep rolling and see if you can spot who picked up that mask."
"Will do, boss." Adam replied, turning back to the screen.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
Angell sat on the floor in the living room of a run down old brownstone. She was cuffed to the radiator and listening to the men that abducted her argue with each other.
"Why didn't ya just shoot her there?" Brandon Pauley asked. Pauley was a tall, skinny kid with brown hair that looked looked like it hadn't been washed in a week. "Now what are we gonna tell Nick?"
"You wanna yell that a little louder, Brandon? In case the neighbors on the other side of that wall didn't hear ya." Guy Nichols said back, pointing to the wall that separated their living room from the one next door. Nichols was an older, heavier guy with fair skin and strawberry blonde hair. "It's bad enough the cops almost got Zimmerman, you want 'em to get us all?"
"So, what are we gonna tell Nick?" Pauley asked again.
"I don't know, man." Nichols whined. "This is all your fault. You figure something out."
"My fault?" Pauley asked. "How is this my fault?"
"Because you're the one who got his mask pulled off by a chick who was kickin' your ass." Adam Fuller spoke up finally as he wrapped an Ace bandage around the bullet graze on his upper arm. Fuller was a young black guy in his twenties, who obviously had a thing for tattoos and body piercing.
Keys could be heard in the front door and a man much older than the other three, probably in his fifties, walked in. He stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at the other three, then at Angell.
"Nick, I can explain." Was as far as Pauley got before he was backhanded.
"Then you'd better get started, 'cause right now I see the customer I sent ya for and a cop I didn't." Nick Waldman instructed. Waldman was a short stocky man with salt and pepper hair that was beginning to recede. He wore glasses and smelled strongly of cigar smoke.
"She pulled off my mask, Nick. We couldn't just let her go after that." Pauley half explained and half pleaded.
"She's a feisty one." Fuller commented, watching Waldman walk over and crouch down in front of Angell. "We were just gonna stuff her in the trunk and go, but she had other ideas."
"Well, I don't like my women feisty, so you'd better keep your mouth shut while I figure out what to do with ya." Waldman ordered Angell in a threatening tone.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"It was a public sidewalk, Mac. There's no way of telling what we brought back from the scene is from Angell's abduction and what is just everyday sidewalk debris." Stella said.
"Boss," Adam said, coming into the layout room as Mac was about to speak. "I found something on the footage."
Back in the A/V Room:
"There," Adam said, freezing the frame on the wall screen, "Right there is when someone picked up the mask, after the 9-1-1 call, but before the police arrived."
"Zoom in on that guy, Adam." Mac instructed. Adam complied, zooming in on the face of a tall young guy. "Get that image to Flack. I wanna know who that guy is and why he picked up that mask."
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"I got it, Mac." Flack called out, almost jogging into the room. "Adam Fuller is the guy who picked up the mask. He's in CODIS for a string of small time stuff. You think he's involved in taking Jess?"
"He's wearing all black, so probably one of the perps trying to get the mask back. No other reason to want it." Mac said.
"You got an address?" Danny asked, seeing Flack nod. "Let's go then."
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"He's not here, officer. He's at work right now." Adam Fuller's grandmother informed Flack.
"It's important that we contact him right away, Mrs. Fuller. Can you tell us where he works or anything else that would help us find him?" Flack asked the elderly lady.
"No." She paused, thinking carefully. "I don't know where he works."
"How do you contact him, ma'am?" Mac asked.
"I don't have to. He calls me." She replied with a smile at the thought of her only grandson calling her.
A few minutes later Adam had triangulated Fuller's cell phone and given Mac the address. They were on their way.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"Get her up." Waldman ordered Nichols. "We're taking her to the other house."
Nichols walked over to Angell and started crouching down in front of her, when suddenly her boot came up and busted him in the mouth, knocking him backwards. Nichols stood, wiping the blood running down his chin, leaned over her and retaliated with a punch to the jaw before walking away. Angell had what she wanted.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"NYPD!" Flack yelled before busting down the door with his gun drawn, followed by Mac, Stella, Danny, and several officers.
"She's not here." Stella finally said, approaching Mac in the living room after the entire house had been searched and secured. "Although I did find the ski mask hidden under a bed upstairs." She added, holding up a clear evidence bag with the mask in it.
"Hey, Mac, I've got blood over here." Messer called over to Mac, who walked over. "The luminal spray shows someone tried to clean blood off the floor, but they missed some here on the drapes. Then I turned it around and found this..." He added, turning the hem of the drapes around to show a bloody handprint on the white lining.
"Get it to the lab, asap, Danny." Mac instructed, then turned to see Flack behind him, expressionless and looking at the bloody handprint. "We'll find her, Don. We'll find her." He added, patting Flack on the shoulder as he walked back to Stella.
"Don't worry, Flack. There's not that much here." Danny said, indicating the quantity of blood.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"Some of the blood belongs to Angell, the rest belongs to a Guy Nichols." Danny said, walking into Mac's office. "Flack's getting an address on him and will be here in a minute."
"Not that long, Messer." Flack said, walking into the room with a computer printout in his hand. "I got an address."
"I'm gonna stay here and work on the ski mask. The rain washed away any epithelials, but but when Angell pulled it off, she pulled hair out, too." Stella said.
"Roots and all?" Mac asked.
Stella nodded, "I'm waiting on DNA results."
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
Angell sat again cuffed to a radiator in a different living room. She was pulling out her hair, literally. At least it gave her something to do to distract her from the scene playing out in front of her.
"Ah, geez, turn that garbage off, Brandon." Fuller said. "There's a bedroom down the hall, man. At least do that in private." He added with a tone of disgust.
"I can't. Nick said I have to keep an eye on her, so I gotta stay in here." Pauley whined back. "Besides, this tv is bigger." He added, turning up the volume.
"Where is Nick, anyway?" Nichols asked, taking a seat on the other end of the couch from Pauley.
"Scouting a new location. Cops found the brownstone a little while ago. He doesn't trust they won't find this place, either." Fuller said.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"NYPD!" Flack yelled before busting down his second door of the day with his gun drawn, followed by Mac, Danny, and Lindsay who had joined them, and several officers.
"She's not here, either." Mac said, approaching Flack in the living room after the entire house had been searched and secured.
"Mac." Lindsay quietly said, nodding for him to come over, which he did. "I've got semen stains all over this couch." She said quietly, hoping Flack wouldn't hear.
"Get that back to the lab quietly, Lindsay." Mac instructed. She nodded. He didn't want to make any implications where none should be made.
"Hey, Mac." Flack said, approaching him & Lindsay. "Danny's found... What did you find, Lindsay?" He asked, seeing her bagging a couch cushion.
Lindsay looked at Mac, not wanting to answer. "We're just checking on something, Flack." Mac answered for her.
Flack wasn't buying it. "What?" He asked directly.
Mac knew he wasn't getting out of this one. "Lindsay found semen stains on the couch."
"They could be very old, Flack." Lindsay chimed in, hoping to alleviate his concerns, which, as they could tell by his expression, was clearly not working.
"Don,... look. They've got a stack of porn videos here." Mac started to say, hoping an alternative cause for the semen would help some.
"Danny's found hair over there." Flack said before walking away.
"It's long and brown. Roots attached. Probably Angell's." Danny said, as Flack returned and Mac approached.
"Back at the radiator, just like the blood at the other place. That's probably where they're keeping her secured. She's leaving us a trail to follow so we can find her." Mac observed, pulling out his ringing phone. "Taylor." He answered.
"Mac, it's Stella. Pete Zimmerman has just been re-arrested."
"Zimmerman? Wasn't that the perp Angell and Harrison arrested this morning?" Mac asked Stella.
"Mhmm. And he's singin' like a bird. Apparently he doesn't want anything to do with the killing and abduction of police officers."
Mac sucked a deep breath, "Harrison?"
"Yeah. Lieutenant Sythe just called. Harrison died about 30 minutes ago."
"Damn." Mac said through gritted teeth. Another deep breath, "Alright, anything else?" He asked, trying to return his focus. There was nothing he could do to help Harrison, but he could still help Angell.
"I've got an ID from the hair DNA. It's a Brandon Pauley. Here's the address..."
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"Where are you, Jess? Where are you?" Flack mumbled to himself while running his hands through his hair. He was growing very frustrated at not being able to find her. "They moved her again, didn't they?" He asked Mac who was standing beside him. But Mac didn't answer.
"There's nothin' here this time, Mac. No evidence of Angell being here at all. Not here in the living room. Not at the radiator." Danny stated. "I don't think they've ever been here."
Mac sighed. He agreed with Danny's assessment.
"Maybe not, but our semen donor has been here." Lindsay said, walking up with an evidence bag. "There's multiple donations on the bed upstairs, where there's a tv and another stack of porn videos."
"So, our horny donor is more into jackin' off than rape." Mac said, surprising the others with his uncharacteristically blunt terminology. "That's good." He added for Flack's benefit, before answering his phone.
"Boss, it's Adam. Hawkes says the semen from the couch cushion is a DNA match to the hair Stella found in the ski mask, and I've found another possible address for Brandon Pauley. Seems his family owned a retail business, till they went bankrupt six months ago." Adam explained.
"Good. What's the address?" Mac requested.
"That won't do you any good. New owners are already in there. However, they do still own the storage warehouse." Adam clarified.
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Angell's head hurt. The three guys had been less than gentle with her as they'd moved her from location to location while Waldman was out deciding what to do with her. She was sure he was simply cutting a deal for someone to kill her and dispose of her body. He was a bookie, not a murderer, she'd figured that much out. He didn't like to get his hands dirty, which was why these three dim-whits were still around, or he'd have had them killed already. At least for now they were leaving her alone. Her hands were again cuffed behind her, this time to a steel pipe in the upstairs storage loft while they were all hanging out downstairs. It was late in the day now and getting dark. If they hadn't arrested Zimmerman so early, at least she would have had more than just her post-workout protein bar to sustain her the rest of the day. But that was not the case and she was hungry and thirsty.
"Oh shit, you hear that?" Fuller asked, looking up from his poker cards.
"Yeah." Nichols paused, listening to determine the source, "Sirens."
"Leave the lady. Let's get outta here!" Pauley yelled.
All three guys bolted for the exits, each running in a different direction.
"There goes Fuller." Flack called out, recognizing him from his photo and giving chase.
Mac saw another perp exiting the side of the building as he pulled up and chased after him.
Danny saw one headed his direction from the back, then seeing Danny, he turned and ran back to the back of the building. Danny gave chase.
Stella entered the warehouse with three officers. Two went upstairs, one stayed downstairs with her. They all moved cautiously with guns drawn till the building was secured.
"Don't touch me!" Angell yelled as she drew up her feet, drawing back from the officers rushing over to her. She could hear Stella's voice in one of their radios. "Get Stella up here!"
"They've fond her, Flack!" Danny called out as he put Pauley in the back of a squad car and Flack approached with Fuller also in cuffs.
"Where is she?" Flack asked.
"Somewhere upstairs. But she won't let anyone but Stella near her." Danny informed him. "You go. We got this." He waved another officer over to take Fuller from Flack so he could go be with Angell.
"Angell,... are you alright?" Stella asked rushing over to her, still a bit breathless from running the stairs and wondering why she wouldn't let anyone near her.
"I scratched him, Stell." Angell stated, setting up on her heels and leaning forward to show her hands while turning around as best as she could, "I've got his skin under my nails. I didn't want them touching me till you collected it."
Stella couldn't help a small smile, "Good girl." Stella opened her kit to collect the samples and also wipe Angell's hands for blood. "That was good work with the bloody hand print."
"I took a punch to the jaw to leave that." If Angell hadn't had her head tipped down with her hair fallen around her face, she would have seen the look on Stella's face as she said those words. It was the same expression the officer had on his as he also listened.
Stella had no response for the bravery that must've took. She just gave a slight nod. "Almost done." She said as Flack ran into view.
"Jess!" Was his only word.
"Don't touch her, Don." Stella ordered, holding up a hand as if to stop him. "She's got evidence on her I need to collect first."
Angell craned her head up enough to make eye contact with Flack. She hoped her hair covering most of her face would keep him from seeing the bruises. At the moment, she needed to see his deep blue reassuring eyes. Flack crouched down in front of her, wanting to see those beautiful brown eyes he adored and did his best to ignore the bruises. Stella unlocked the cuffs, causing Angell to fall forward slightly, but Flack steadied her and helped her to her feet.
Several minutes later Angell walked down the stairs with Flack, empty water bottle in hand. "We got three of 'em, Angell." Mac told her as they reached the bottom.
"There's a fourth." She informed him. "A Nick Waldman. He's the leader behind all this and a bookie Zimmerman owed money to. He was ticked that we were arresting Zimmerman this morning, 'cause he can't get money out if him if he's behind bars. I was only taken because I got in the way."
"The mask." Mac stated simply.
Angell nodded. "I got hair with it, didn't I?"
Mac nodded, "You were good. Nice work with the hand print and the hair, too." Mac complimented her, then paused, "Angell, we found semen at two locations." He noticed Flack give a slight flinch at his words.
"Is that why the bus is here?" Angell asked, looking out through the large bay door that had just been opened, revealing an ambulance parked outside in the dark. She saw Mac give a slight nod. "I'm okay, Mac." Angell assured him, "They were only into doin' themselves and each other." Angell saw Mac give a nod of acknowledgment and heard Flack give a sigh of relief. Angell shuddered at remembering what she had had to hear. "If they wanted to do that, couldn't they at least have gone to a bedroom or something?" She said, making a face. "I mean, seriously, I could close my eyes, but with being cuffed, I couldn't exactly cover my ears." Another shudder.
"Any idea where Waldman's at? Anything you overheard?" Mac asked, partly to change the subject.
Angell shook her head, "No. But I can tell you that he smokes cigars. Reeks real bad of 'em. But not the kind you buy just anywhere. They were real expensive specialty cigars. Had a distinct smell to 'em, like you'd get in a high end cigar shop."
"We'll check into that, see if we can track him down that way. Good job. But right now, Angell, you are going to go get in that ambulance." Mac said. She gave him a look. "You have a lot of bruises and those cuffs have cut into your wrists pretty good." Mac took a closer look at her wrists, "Are those burns?"
Angell looked down and nodded slightly, "From the radiators."
Mac sighed, "The heat traveled down the metal of the cuffs." Mac said, thinking about what his colleague had gone through that day.
"And that's probably a knot on you head you keep rubbing." Flack added. "Let's go."
"How's Harrison?" Angell asked as she and Flack walked out of the warehouse.
FAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFAFA
"The usual?" Flack was asked and nodded before thinking about it. He always ordered the same thing, for two now, out of habit.
The long hot shower had felt good and helped Angell wash away the ugliness of the day. Her head still hurt a little, the marks and burns on her wrists were bright red, and the bruises had darkened to look like small shadows across parts of her face. She now stood in her favorite sweats in front of her nearly empty refrigerator. She closed the door and took a microwaveable meal from the freezer then heard a knock at the door.
"Flack." Angell said in surprise as she opened the door.
"Uh oh...That's not good." Flack stated from the doorway.
"What's not good?" Angell asked, stepping aside for him to enter.
"You called me 'Flack' instead of 'Don'. I can't believe I'm in the doghouse again so soon." Flack explained with a sigh. Angell decided not to say anything, just watched him enter and put a sack on her kitchen counter. "Seriously, Jess?" He asked holding up the frozen box, "You call this dinner? Those creeps didn't so much as give you a drink of water all day, and this is all you were going to do for dinner?"
"My grocery shopping plans for today got changed." She deadpanned, crossing her arms and suddenly feeling defensive, but not sure why.
Flack placed the frozen meal back in the freezer and began unpacking Chinese food containers from the sack. "I figured as much, since it's Thursday." He looked up to see the curious look on her face, "You always grocery shop on Thursdays." He explained and noticed the look on her face change as if she didn't herself realize she always shopped on the same day of the week. "You're very predictable, ya know."
"Looks like you brought enough for two." Angell observed, also testing the waters between them. She noticed his hand pause mid-air before he spoke.
"Well, I know how much you like having leftovers." He lied, then paused again before looking up at her. "Wasn't sure if you'd want me to stay or not." He finally said, speaking the truth this time, then began neatly folding the now empty paper bag.
Angell's lack of response indicated to him that she did not wish for him to stay, so he wouldn't press the matter. He'd give her the space she wanted and needed. Her words about feeling 'unwanted' and 'embarrassed' again flooding through his mind and he felt bad but didn't know what to do about it if she didn't want to talk to him. Or maybe she was still stressed about the day's events and just wanted to be left alone. At this point, Flack wasn't quite sure which option to go with. So he slid the flattened bag next to the recycle bin and turned around to leave, only to find that Angell had moved and now stood right in front of him, and in spite of him just convincing himself that he needed to give her space, he found himself pulling her close to him. "I was scared today, Jess. I needed to find you, but they kept moving you. It was just so frustrating, and when Lindsay found,..." Flack stopped when she quietly wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head against his chest. It had been too long since he'd felt her close to him like that and he found himself running his hands through her hair as if stirring up a wonderful memory.
After several minutes Angell loosened her grip to step back, but Flack did not let go. She felt his chin rest atop her head and could hear him breathing deeply as if forcing himself to relax. "I'm okay, Don." She finally said, in a calm and reassuring tone.
She could feel the slight nod of his head, "I know." He said. "I just,... I don't know what I would have done if anything happened to you." Angell retightened her grip around him, deciding to appreciate how much he cared about her, and that he was there for her. Neither moved or spoke until his phone rang.
Mac called to inform them that they had Nick Waldman in custody. "Seems that one of the cigar shop owners was glad to give Waldman up. Mac is suspecting it's because he also has gambling debts and owes him money." Flack explained after hanging up.
"Good. I'm glad that's over with. I don't want to think about this anymore." Angell said, grabbing two plates from the cupboard and holding one out to Flack.
He took the plate, almost reluctantly. "You want me to stay?" He asked, hoping she did, but needing to make sure.
"Yeah." She replied with a slight nod. "I want you to stay."
Flack knew they had one more topic of conversation they needed to address. He wasn't sure if it would be during dinner or after, but definitely some time before he left her apartment.
Flack watched from across the table in quiet amusement at Angell's attempts to use the two thin sticks. He'd seen her try during their many trips to Kung's. It never failed that she'd send a noodle or two flying as the chopsticks she was determined to master would suddenly twisted and flipped in her fingers. He was tempted to just slide a fork across the table in front of her, but she would surely be irritated by the offer. So, he continued eating his sweet & sour pork in silence, at least until a piece of mar far chicken flew his direction.
"Oops." Angell mumbled, "Um, sorry 'bout that."
Flack looked up at her with a smirk, down at the piece of chicken, then using his chopsticks to pick up the chicken... he stuffed it in his mouth.
"Hey, that's my chicken!" Angell said in mock protest.
"Why do they always give ya so much food when ordering Chinese?" Flack asked as he put the leftovers in her refrigerator.
"Because you'll be hungry again in an hour. Everyone knows that." She replied. "Well, forty minutes in your case."
Flack nodded in agreement and retook his seat at the table where Angell was opening two beers. "I'm sorry, Jess." He said, before taking a drink of his. "The idea that I made you feel unwanted hurts me, because I want you in my life more than anything." He put his bottle down and picking up her hand began running his thumb across the tattoo around her wrist, "Obviously it was an awkward moment that night. For both of us. Jeez, I think the only fabric left between us was your bra." He paused, continuing to toy with her tattoo, "Jess, I wanted to tell you that the realization only makes you more special to me, but you were gone."
Angell was forcing herself to breathe deep and slow, trying to relax. But her free hand toyed with her beer bottle as if channeling all her nervous energy. She wished she wasn't nervous. She didn't like him seeing her that way and was failing to come up with a response.
"It's kinda sexy, ya know." Flack said, raising a brow when he saw the nervous look on her face. He was hoping to break the tension a little, and he really did like the idea that no man had ever touched her that way. He bit his lower lip when he saw her smile a little and a blush slowly creep across her face, "Yeah, definitely sexy." He added, before taking another drink from his beer.
Flack placed the washed and dried plates back in the cupboard and took a seat on the couch next to Angell. "What about this Sunday?" He asked.
"What's happening this Sunday?" She inquired.
"You've forgotten."
"Obviously."
"I asked you a while back about going to my folks' house for Sunday dinner." He reminded her.
"Still want me to hear all those 'dysfunctional embarrassing stories'?" She smirked while reminding him of that part of their previous conversation.
"Well, if Sam's there, that part may be unavoidable." Flack leaned in closer to her. "But I'm willing to risk it."
"You sure we're ready for that meet-the-parents step, Don? We kinda seem to be on some shaky ground lately."
"I am,..." He leaned in and stroked her hair. "...and we're not." He assured her, now that all was well between them again. "My parents will adore you, Jess. Just like I do."
An hour later...
"Thanks for letting me say." Flack said, looking at her with sincerity in his voice and picking up his coat.
"Had to." She smirked, "Someone had to eat all that sweet & sour pork."
Flack laughed, remembering that their Chinese food order was always the same because he ate all the pork and she ate all the chicken. "Honestly, Jess, I didn't even think of that when I ordered."
She laughed, too, and he thought how nice it was to see her smiling again. "I missed that smile of yours." He said before kissing her.
"Oh, wait." She exclaimed when they pulled apart. "We forgot our fortune cookies." She added, then retrieved them from the table. "Read your's first."
"Forgiveness is a good thing." He read out loud, but with a sadness in his voice. "Jess, I just have to say again how sor..." She placed her finger on his lips, shushing him as he looked at her. It wasn't that he wanted to keep bringing it up, they had talked about it plenty, but he just had to make sure she knew how sorry he was for hurting and embarrassing her. He never wanted her to doubt the way he felt about her.
"Shhh. You don't need to apologize again. Once I've forgiven someone, Don, I've forgiven." She said, looking intently into his blue eyes, making sure he understood. She watched him nod, "My turn."
"Make the most of every day." She read out loud.
"Guess that really applies to what happened today." He said, snaking an arm back around her waist.
"Really?" She said, leaning in to initiate another kiss before he left. "'Cause I was thinking more about Sunday."