Title: Its the Fall...
Author: Bekah 26
Rating: PG
Pairing: none
Disclaimer: No infringement of copyright intended. All characters originated with CSI: NY, and are the property of Anthony Zuiker, Jerry Bruckheimer Television, CBS, and Alliance Atlantis. I am receiving no payment for their use. They do not belong to me as all can tell.
Content Warning: Danny has a dirty mouth and general spoilers for Season 1.
Summary: Out of all of them, Danny has the worst luck.
"This is not my day," Danny Messer cursed as he made his way tentatively over the uneven ground, mindful of the pieces of jagged glass beneath his feet, absentmindedly rubbing a hand across his brow and smearing the grit that had coated his face. It hadn't started out badly, he rationalized, making his way up the staircase. He had actually intended to get into the lab early, grabbing a bagel on the way, hoping to avoid both the long lines and stress that the oncoming rainstorm would produce.
Which was when it all went wrong.
The line had been long so he had had to skip breakfast, willing to just grab some chips or something from the vending machines; which was when he realized that he has left his wallet at home and the tunnels were as packed as the coffee shops due to the downpour that had slam dunked the city.
"What the hell does 6th need road work for anyway?" Danny grumbled, arms stretching out to recapture his balance as he slipped on wood plank; he SO didn't need to fall again.
After he had grabbed a cab, got home, and headed to work he was already forty-five minutes late and had to immediately head back out to a scene, where a body had been found in a derelict house, and was now 'waiting for him'.
He had an irate Mac waiting for him as well.
And then when he had arrived, what did he do, but slip and fall face first in the muck outside the house; which served him right for hurrying up the gritty stairs in the first place, but did he really deserve the laughter from the 'forms and Flack? Or the aggrieved sigh from his boss?
He glanced to the side to see the uniforms that secured the scene talking to Mac and Don interviewing a homeless guy, and can't help the shamed flush that spread over his face. Man, he just couldn't stop screwing up! He should be thankful that Mac wanted to work with him at all, after the mess with Minhaus, but the "We'll see" comment hurt.
Damn it!
Danny clenched his teeth at the familiar feeling of hopelessness; it was the opposite of what he felt when Tanglewood still loomed in his life. Then it was the fear of never getting out, now it was the fear of never getting back in. And yet Danny knew he couldn't bear it if Mac did ask him about his past; was he willing to betray his brother to get back in with his boss? He knows that he brother had been, and probably still was, involved in the heavy stuff. So, could he really blame Mac for not trusting him about that, when he himself didn't know which side had his true loyalty? He respected Mac, could almost admit to loving his boss like a dear friend, but Louie was blood. And you never turn your back on blood.
It'd been weighing on his mind for months; the shooting making it worse, and the guilt had really begun to eat him alive. He knew he was being a distant and a jackass, but all he could see in Stella's and Aiden's and Flack's faces was projected guilt, so he had started to avoid them when not at work, and to his knowledge they hadn't tried to seek him out. Which he felt he deserved, even though it hurt. So he had tried to prove he was reliable through his cases, but had ended up screwing things up even worse.
Danny knew he should leave, resign, maybe leave New York for better places. But he wouldn't. Like a dog and his bone, he'd would stick it out to the end, until the every fiasco had died out. Or until Mac finally tired of him.
"Yeah, and we know which'll come first, don't we?" Danny sighed, watching Mac and Don make their way towards him, having better luck at maneuvering the grimy stairs than he had.
"So, we have a body dump. Homeless Joe over there," Flack motioned behind him, "says he broke into here to get out of the rain and then discovers the body on the second floor balcony as he's hunting around for a blanket."
"So what, you think that dis' guy gets the same idea?" Danny asked, looking across to the body of a young looking boy as it lay splayed face first on the balcony, face titled inwards towards them. To Danny's eye he looked about twenty and somewhat handsome, but he couldn't see any apparent trauma on the naked body. "Comes in outta the rain to dry off and then, what, goes outside naked?"
"That's what you're going to check out," Mac told him and pointed at the body. "There's debris but it could be just that, debris. I need you to go out and get the body."
Danny turned to Mac, dumbstruck. "There a reason we ain't doin' this the proper way?"
Mac sighed. "The wood in this house is old, possibly rotting. You weigh less than both Don and I, as well as the uniforms. It will be all right, the photos have already been taken, they were done before you arrived, so you won't be disturbing evidence. The balcony should be able to hold your weight."
"...Should..?"
"Come 'on Messer, stop whining and drag that body in here. And just be careful where you grip it." Don flashed him a grin that bespoke of weeks of taunting, possibly months, and Danny knew that there was no doubt he'd do it.
"Figures he cares about the evidence then me." Stepping gingerly out, and under the rain once more, Danny leaned over the body to get a hold of it. Mac was right, he thought as he sifted his grip on the shoulders, this does look like debris but it looks fresh, not coated with dust layers that even the rain couldn't wash away. He looked around, checking out the area, but when he glanced up Danny froze.
"Uh, Mac?"
Mac sighed, sounding irritated at the delay. "Yes Danny?"
"Did ya know that there was another level to this place?"
"What?" Mac's brow furrowed.
"Yeah," Danny gulped, slowly edging away from both the balcony and body. "Looks like it can only be seen by its balcony which I think is our debris."
"But that means-"Don gasped.
"Not as sturdy as ya thought." Danny finished grimly as a loud creaking cut into the air, and he turned, attempting to make a leap for solid ground when the entire ledge broke away from the house.
Both Don and Mac had lunged forward to grab at him as well, and so were in a perfect position to see what happened next.
The balcony fell, shattering upon impact, with the dead body hitting the ground next and Danny landing after that. They could only stare down in stunned horror at the scene below, at the long rod of broken railing that was now impaled through Danny's stomach, holding him pinned against the body underneath. They saw Danny's hand move shakily up to touch the rod and then fall back, and heard his breathy words:
"This just ain't my fuckin' day."
Whew, this is first long piece, wonder how I did. Read and review please!