A/N: I did it. I broke down and wrote a CSI: NY fic. And I KNOW I KNOW!! I figured there were so damn many they-kissed-therefore-they-are-together fics floating around, that I needed to do one to explain WHY, in my opinion, he kissed her. Really. Honestly. It has nothing to do with me being a crazed fangirl. Also, I am on the new side of CSI: NY. So please forgive me for any OOC-ness. Especially on Angell's part. Actually, screw it, on both their parts.
Disclaimer: If I owned any part of CSI: NY, Flack would be mine, all mine.
Damn. Double damn and triple damn. It's not like she didn't know this was coming, not after That Thing That Happened That Night. But in front of their colleagues was definitely not her preferred method of talking about It. That didn't deter Don, though. He'd walked into the bullpen and made a beeline for her. She'd seriously considered running, but as he'd already seen her, she figured it would probably be a little obvious.
She knew that It didn't mean anything. She'd accepted that he was emotional and most likely not thinking straight - not that he did much of that anyway - and that It was the only semi-logical way, at the time, to tell her thank you. She'd almost convinced herself that they were only friends. But there was still that niggling voice at the back of her mind - who, interestingly enough, sounded like Adam Ross - that kept saying Well, it MIGHT have meant something.
Still, she could tell by the look on his face as he approached her that her Adam-Ross-mind-voice was dead wrong.
"Hey," he'd said quietly. "Can we talk?"
Make that quadruple damn. Now she'd have to explain that she knew it didn't mean anything - unless it did - and that she was okay with it.
"Here? Now?" she'd replied, trying at least to keep her expression professional. He looked puzzled for a minute and then seemed to realize their surroundings.
"Oh," he'd said, before grabbing her wrist and all but dragging her into the nearest empty interrogation room.
"Jess, about the other night-" he started, but her brain whirred into motion and she raised a hand to stop him.
"I understand. I know that you were upset about Sam, I know that - Jesus. I don't know how to say this. I know that it didn't mean anything," she finished in one breath.
"Oh," he said again. "Uh - okay."
There was a silence that, to her, lasted what may have been several years. Then he said, "Mac called. Says he needs a detective. You...wanna take it?"
She smiled. She could live with being colleagues, even if she was going to have to try damn hard to put that Thing from her mind.
"Sure. I'll let him know."
A/N: That...turned out different than I expected. Probably due to lack of sleep and/or flu meds? (When in doubt, blame the flu meds.) I was totally expecting this to be either a mega Angell bashing session, or a nice, fluffy fic that reveals that I, apparently ship Flack/Angell. Which I do NOT. (I'm almost a Flack/Adam shipper [hence the inner voice], but I'm trying to control my inner slasher.) Reviews will get you a clone!muse!Danny. :)