+I don't own any CSI: NY characters. But the rest is mine. I really hope you enjoy reading this.+
Flack walked into the Starbucks close to his apartment where he went on the mornings he had off. He made his way to the line, which was four people long. He glanced around the coffee shop, knowing that Mac had an instance where he was the best witness of a shooting at the diner he went to for breakfast by being observant of his surroundings. There was a couple at a table by the window sharing a muffin, an older woman in a chair in the corner reading a book, and another younger woman sitting on the couch toward the back scribbling away in a book. He kept his attention on her for a few moments as he waited in line. She had short dark hair that was falling in her face as she wrote. Her legs were folded up on the couch next to her. She would smile every once in a while. Then he saw Stella come into the café. She didn't notice him but headed for the woman he had been watching.
"Can I help you, sir?" the young man behind the counter asked him and Don stepped forward.
After he got his coffee he went to the condiment bar. That's when Stella tapped him on the shoulder and he turned.
"Hey, Flack, how are you? It's been a whole twelve hours since I saw you," she greeted and they both laughed.
"I'm good. What are you doing over here? Isn't your apartment on the west side?" he responded as he followed her to where she got in line.
"Yeah, it is I'm meeting a friend." She ordered her drink and Don stepped forward to pay for it. "Thank you," she told him.
"No problem, you bought me lunch the other day."
"So, I want you to meet my friend, I think you two might hit it off."
"Aw, you're not trying to set me up, are you?"
"Well, you're here. Just meet her, if anything happens it happens. I'm not pushing." Stella picked up her drink then led me over to the young woman on the couch. "Hannah, this is Don Flack, he and I work together. Don this is my friend Hannah."
"It's nice to meet you," Hannah told him and Don returned the gesture of shaking her hand. "Have a seat you guys." She grabbed her bag from the couch so Stella could sit next to her.
"So, what are you working on?" Stella asked her.
"Oh, I was just jotting down some thoughts. It's nothing solid right now."
"You're a writer?" Don questioned.
She looked at him. "I try a little fiction. But I do write a sports column for the Times."
"A sports writer, wow I can't say I know any female sports writers." Don chuckled. "How do you two know each other?"
"My older brother went to the academy with Stella, and they dated for a little while. And I guess Stella and I just stuck together."
"I always joke that I dumped her brother but kept her around," Stella added.
Don looked at his watch. "I gotta go. My dad wants me to come over to the house to help him fix some stuff." He stood up. "It was nice meeting you, Hannah," he told her and offered her his hand again. "I'll see ya later Stell."
"Alright, Don. Tell your folks I said hi."
A couple days later Don was leaving the precinct and trying to head home through traffic late in the evening. He realized he was close to the New York Times building. He smiled and had a brief thought of Hannah. He was in non-moving traffic so he watched the door of the building. It had started to rain. He squinted to see the girl coming out of the building and realized it was Hannah. She went to the curb and held her hand out for a cab. A few whizzed past her. The traffic line he was in started to move and he went down the road.
Don made up his mind to go to the pizza place down the block from his apartment before he got home. He pulled up in front then got out of the car and headed inside. He ordered his pizza and sat at a tall table to wait for it. He sipped a beer and stared out the window to watch the rain. Then he saw her with a newspaper on top of her head come in the door. She went past him and to the counter to order her pizza. As she turned to find a table to sit at while she waited she caught Don's gaze.
"Hi," Hannah greeted shyly.
"Hey," he responded.
"Mind if I join you?"
"No, have a seat. I have to tell you I was in traffic by your building and I saw you coming out."
"That always happens. You meet a new person then you see them all over the place after that. At least it happens to me quite a bit."
"Yeah, it's funny how that happens. You want me to get you a beer?"
She looked at the bar then back at him. "Yeah, that sounds good thanks." He got up and came back with a glass of beer and set it in front of her. "So, you're eating pizza alone?"
"You are too, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I was just making conversation."
He chuckled. "I am eating alone. Isn't that what single people always have to do?"
"I guess it is what we do. So, now I know some things about you: you are single, you eat alone, you like pizza and beer, and you're a police officer." She put her elbows on the table to look closer at him.
"That's pretty much the highlights. Let's see I know that you are a writer, eat alone, you're single, and I'm pretty sure you don't own an umbrella." He chuckled, making her laugh.
"I do own an umbrella, I'm just forgetful. There another think to know about me." Just then Don's name was called for his pizza. He jumped up to get it then Hannah's name was called and he grabbed hers for her. "I just moved into my apartment and I don't have any living room furniture, but would you like to come over and have a carpet picnic with me?"
"I have a couch at my place."
"But come on, how often do you get to sit on a floor and have pizza?"
He smiled and nodded. "Alright, I'm in."
"Good. I think I even have some beer in the fridge."
She followed him outside and to his car. Hannah sat in the front seat with the pizzas on her lap. They pulled in front of her building ten minutes later and he followed her inside. They rode in the elevator and he commented on how nice her building was.
She giggled. "It's nice. I've literally only lived here for a week." She pushed open the door to her second floor apartment and he chuckled. "What?"
"You weren't kidding, were you?"
"No I wasn't. There's no furniture."
"Can I ask why?"
"Uh, I was in a relationship for about two years and we lived together then we broke up and I had no furniture."
"Oh," Don replied, regretting that he had asked.
"Aw, it's alright. Hey, I'm gonna go change you can help yourself to a beer in the fridge, and there's plates and napkins in the cabinet above it." She disappeared into the bedroom.
Don got a beer then loosened his tie as he looked at the photos on the door of the refrigerator. He chuckled at the one of Hannah and Stella at a Halloween party. Stella was dressed as a pirate and Hannah had a baseball uniform on.
"Oh my gosh, are you looking at my pictures?"
"Yeah, I like the one of you and Stel."
Hannah came up next to him. "She looks good as a pirate. This one," she pointed to a photo at the top. "I was at a Giants game and I met Peyton and Eli Manning. I thought it was pretty cool. But I felt like a dork asking to have my picture taken with them."
"Hey, I would do the same thing." He was leaning against the bar. "So, I take it you're a Giants fan?" he asked looking at her t-shirt.
"Oh yeah, Giants all the way. If you're a Jets fan I'm gonna have to show you the door."
"Oh, no I'm a Giants fan totally."
"Good," she went passed him, grabbing the plates and napkins and went into the living room. "We lived in Philadelphia for a little while when I was a kid, and all the boys at school used to argue with me about the Eagles being better than the Giants."
"Why did your family move to Philly?"
"My dad moved around a lot for work. I was born here and we stayed here until I was five then I started kindergarten in Boston, middle school in Philadelphia, and then back here for high school. Have you always lived here?"
"Yep, my whole life." Don pulled some slices of pizza from the box. "So, how did you get into sports reporting?"
Hannah smiled as she took some slices for herself. "My dad and my brother have always been into sports and they got me hooked, and I love to write so when I was searching for a major I decided on journalism. I started with the college paper. I'd report on all the sports. Then I got an internship at the Times while I was in school. This is gonna sound cliché but one of the editors kind of stumbled onto an article I wrote and decided to hire me. She's the best boss."
"That's a great story. Do you travel with any team?"
"Well, I mostly write for the Giants, and there's another reporter who kind of works with me. He and I will go back and forth on who gets to go to the away games."
"What about during the off-season?"
"I'll just write about stuff having to do with the team during the off-season."
Don looked at her for a minute and squinted at her. "You're H. Weber, aren't you?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm putting two and two together now. I read your columns all the time."
"Oh, ok, so how do I do?"
"Your reporting is the best. I'm not just saying this, really your columns are my favorite."
She smiled, shyly. "Thank you."
After about an hour Don admitted he was tired and told her he was ready to head home. He helped her clean up the pizza boxes and trash then he went to the door. Hannah held it as Don stood in the doorway.
"This was fun. Thanks for coming over," Hannah told him.
"Yeah, I had fun too. Have a good night." Don started away from her.
"Don?"
"Yeah?"
"I have tickets for the Yankees game this weekend, would you want to go? I mean if you're available."
"Yeah, that would be great. I haven't been to the game in a while."
"Alright, meet me outside Gate off of 157th?"
"Two o'clock sound good?"
"Yeah, that's perfect." Hannah smiled at him, making him smile. "I'll see you then."