What It Means To Be Broken
Summary: Her life was never a page out of a fairytale. Flack/OC
A/N: Okay, so I did have this posted on my other account 'Midsummer's Rain' but it wasn't getting any reads. Jenna told me to post it on here... apparently she's the boss. Also, this is the real Austin story. Ya'all seemed to like her in my one-shots, so...
Disclaimer: Anything recognizable does not belong to me.
Blood runs blue in their veins, it had since they were kids playing cops and robbers on the block back in the Bronx.
"Hey kiddo." Danny Messer grinned at the woman before him.
"Quit callin' me kiddo, Messer, I'm twenty-two." She grinned at him; she readjusted the collar of her dress uniform, glad she didn't have to wear it every day.
"I'm just so proud of you." Danny hugged her.
"Get off, Daniel." She shoved him and smiled.
"Austin.." Danny gave his best wounded puppy look.
"Messer." She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
"Hawthorne." Danny shot back, "You can't honestly be mad at me, not while you're wearing that ridiculous hat."
"Don't be hatin', you know secretly you want this." Austin stuck her tongue out at him.
"Whatever." Danny chuckled. Austin Hawthorne was two years his junior and had been a welcomed thorn in his side since Elementary school.
"Take me to dinner?" Austin asked.
"Well I guess for my favorite graduate I could swing three bucks for a slice."
"Watch it Mess, I may be tempted to shove you in front of another parked car." Austin smiled up at him.
"Let's go." Danny draped an arm around her shoulder and lead her through the mess of folding chairs.
"Thanks for being here Danny." She whispered.
"Anytime Sweetheart." Danny replied and squeezed her shoulder lightly.
"Can I take off this garb?" Austin pouted at him.
"No way." Danny chuckled.
"Please. Danny." She pouted, "I don't want to get pizza sauce on it and have to get it dry cleaned."
"Fine. We'll swing by your place first." Danny hailed a cab and held the door open for her.
"Good. I'll change and you can call and wake Flack's ass up." Austin slid in and over to the far door, "He needs to celebrate with us and I'm not taking no for an answer."
"I'll let you tell him that." Danny agreed and rattled off her address to the cabbie.
The cab ride to her rat trap in Brooklyn was a silent one. It wasn't an uncomfortable or unwelcome silence, but a silence of two friends who knew each other so well, words weren't needed. Austin and Danny had grown up with each other; Austin's childhood home was two houses down from Danny's. Danny's dad and Austin's had been partners in the NYPD and their children had grown up playing cops and robbers on the sidewalk. Of course, if anyone had asked back then, Austin's older brother Andy was Danny's best friend -now he openly admitted to the beautiful woman being his nearest and dearest friend.
They climbed out of the Taxi in front of the worn down brick building. Austin smiled and waved at the old men playing checkers while Danny payed the cabbie. The two friends walked up the three flights of creaky stairs and into Austin's apartment.
"Make yourself at home, yada, yada, yada." Austin waved her hand over her shoulder as she walked off to her bedroom to change. The apartment wasn't great, but it had heat and electricity. Austin had the old living room set that had been a landmark of their teenage years. It had once cluttered her parents basement and now brought a piece of home to the bland apartment.
Danny meandered into her kitchen and opened the cupboards to look for something to munch on, he opened the door and screamed at the site of a creature with beady eyes, "Fuck!"
"What are ya fussin' over?" Austin asked; she entered the room barefoot in holey jeans and a black silk bra.
"You have company!" Danny exclaimed, pointing to the cupboard and paying no attention to her attire.
"Oh for fuck's sake, Danny. You're NYPD and you're a'scared of a fuckin' mouse." Austin rolled her eyes and hopped onto the counter.
"Your daddy hear you talk with that mouth?" Danny shot back.
"My daddy raised me not to be a chicken shit." Austin laughed, "There's chocolate in the fridge Mess, help ya self." Austin slid off the counter and sauntered back to her room.
"Ass." Danny chuckled, opening the fridge.
"I heard that!" Austin called from her bedroom.
"Of course, that you hear." Danny rolled his eyes.
"Call Flack."
--
"Austin Grace..." Donald Flack Jr. called from the corner booth at the local pub.
"Flack!" Austin grinned and ran over to him. He stood up and caught her with open arms, picking her up off the ground and spinning her around.
"It's been too long Baby Girl." Flack pulled on a chestnut brown curl.
"And ya still act like a five year old, Donny." Austin crossed her arms and grinned.
"Where's ya uniform?" Flack asked, disappointed.
"I tried to get her to wear it." Danny Messer came up and shook Flack's hand and they all took a seat.
"It's gonna kill me enough to wear a suit come Monday, I ain't dressin' up for you Goons." Austin said and waved for a beer to the waitress.
"We're Goons?" Flack raised an eyebrow.
"We've been upgraded." Danny grinned and a husky chuckle escaped his throat.
"So how's your old man?" Austin turned her attention to Flack and changed the subject.
"Good. Askin' about you all the time." Flack chuckled.
"Give him my love. I gotta head home sometime soon." Austin talked to no one in particular, "See everybody."
"You should have dinner with my Ma and Dad this weekend." Danny suggested, "Come play buffer for me."
"Tell Ma and Pop Messer, sorry but I don't feel like listenin' to you and your daddy go ten rounds over who's better, the Yanks or the Mets." Austin chuckled and accepted her longneck from the waitress.
"The Yankees are gonna win the series this year." Flack declared.
"I'll drink to that." Danny said and extended his bottle.
"Amen, Brother." Austin clinked the neck of her bottle with theirs.
"So how was the ceremony?" Flack asked as she took a swig of her beer.
"Fine." Austin shrugged, "Wish you could've been there."
"Sorry. Duty calls." Flack apologized.
"It's okay, I think Danny took enough pictures to fill you in on everything." Austin chuckled, elbowing Danny in the ribs.
"Eight rolls of film is not a lot!" Danny protested.
"Uh-huh." Austin muttered, her voice laced with skepticism.
"So, the parents didn't show?" Flack asked softly.
"Nope, I'm still the Hawthorne family pariah." Austin drummed her nails on the glass bottle, "Just cause I didn't live up to everyone's expectations."
"Well you far exceeded ours." Danny tossed an arm around her should and gave her a one arm squeeze.
"Yeah. We're just happy you didn't get knocked up and drop out... like everyone who went to SJHS." Flack chuckled.
"Here. Here." Danny agreed.
"Well, if I knew that was all I had to do." Austin grinned. Don and Danny were her boys, her best friends, the two people she trusted most in the world. They had a way of taking her usually dull green eyes and making them shine.
"Oh excuse me." Danny said and slid out of the booth, something pretty at the bar had caught his eye.
"Womanizer." Austin tossed a peanut at his back.
"Go get 'er, Danno." Flack encouraged him.
"Any other female on the face of the earth would be disgusted by you two pigs." Austin huffed and blew a brown curl from her face.
"You love us." Flack chuckled.
"I also love the mutts at the pound." Austin retorted and slid the hair tie from her wrist, twisting her hair into a bun.
"Ouch." Flack placed a hand over his heart.
"Someone has to keep you two in check." Austin leaned against the corner and crossed her Converse covered feet.
"That much is true." Flack conceded.
--
Three hours, two beers a piece, an argument on football teams and too many shots later, Austin and Flack found themselves on the dance floor. The song was soft rock, something from the late eighties that someone had requested on the jukebox. Austin's hands were snaked around Flack's neck and his hands rested on her hips. His fingers traced circles on the bare skin of her back where her black tank top had rode up -each time Austin giggled and put a few inches between them.
Danny came over, "I'm leaving, you two good to get home?"
"Uh-huh." Austin nodded.
"Watch out for her." Danny warned Flack.
"I got it." Flack promised and Danny forced his way back through the crowd.
They danced for awhile longer; spinning around the floor to a jazz beat and laughter from both of them each time Flack stepped on her feet. Flack paid for their tab and slipped his brown leather jacket around Austin's shoulders. She slid her hands through the sleeves; the sleeves were about four inches too long and she was swimming in the coat.
"Don?" Austin leaned against his shoulder in the cab, "Am I a complete screw up?"
"What?" Flack turned and looked at her, "Austin Grace Hawthorne, you are not a screw up."
"My Daddy thinks I am." Austin sighed and turned to lean against the cool cab window.
"You're wasted." Flack sighed, "Austin, your dad is a jerk, you just graduated from the Academy, you are not a disappointment to anyone."
"You're biased." Austin murmured.
"Just a little." Flack chuckled.
Flack had helped her out of the cab in front of her apartment building and she stood on wobbly legs, "Stay the night..."
"Austin.." Flack breathed.
"C'mon. We haven't had a sleepover in forever." Austin pouted, "Please!"
"A'right." Flack gave in, unable to withstand the Austin Hawthorne pout.
"Works every time." Austin said, leading him into the building and stumbled up the steps together, "Maybe it'll work on a suspect."
"It's worth a shot." Flack laughed.
Austin searched through her purse for nearly five minutes before she found her key and then was unable to figure out how to get it in the lock. Flack placed his hand over hers and guided the key into the lock, turning it til it clicked, "You take such good care of me." Austin murmured.
"Always." Flack pressed a kiss to her cheek.
"Get comfy." Austin pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it in a pile of clothes, heading for her bedroom.
"Uh-huh." Flack pulled his shirt over his head and shed his pants and shoes. He laid down on the couch in his boxers and socks.
"Here." Austin came out of her bedroom in one of his old shirts and a pair of black running shorts. She tossed a old quilt on his bare chest and sat down on the couch beside him.
"Don't you have a bed?" Flack asked, but willingly slid over to make room for her. She turned on her side and faced him. He covered them with the blankets and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.
"I don't want to be alone." Austin whispered, not meeting his eyes.
"You never have to be alone." Flack promised her.
They lay silently in the dark, neither speaking. The sounds of the city passing by and the gurgling of the filter on her fish tank filled the silence. His pointer finger traced a trail from her cheek bone to the hollow of her throat. She closed her eyes and tried to keep her heart beat at a decibel he couldn't hear. He leaned in, his nose brushing hers and his breath warm on her lips.
She fell backwards on the floor and backed away. Her green eyes brimmed with tears and she spoke softly, "I can't. I'm sorry. I can't. I can't. I can't."