A/N – So woop woop it's a boy...yay! Welcome to the new heir! I had to write something to celebrate so here it is.
This is just a little experimentation of "What if?" and not to be taken too seriously, title kinda says it all.
Upside Down
Claire stood in her office on the lower level thirty-fifth floor of the New York Crime Lab and looked out over the city. It was really a beautiful day, the sky was free from clouds, the sun's rays could be seen shining down from this height and the buzz of the City life below was drifting up from the streets. It could have been any day really. Any one of numerous days that she had lived through here, in the City. But yet it wasn't. It wasn't for a million and one different reasons but most of all it wasn't because of Mac.
"Mac..." she murmured as she let the world hang on her lips before it fell.
He was gone seven years now. Seven lonely years in which she had never once looked at another man, never once even had the nerve to throw out all his belongings. Their wedding picture was still in its place on the mantelpiece and her heart still firmly belonged to him, even if he was gone. Mac had died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. It was a day Claire knew she would never forget. The worst day of her life.
"Claire," smiled Jo as she tapped on the glass door and then entered the office. Her curly hair bounced around her head as she sat down on the couch in the right hand corner.
"Jo, how are you?" Claire smiled as she turned from the computerised view outside the fake window and took a seat behind her desk. Of course the day could have been like any other. The view never changed. It had been set up in these lower level basement floors to give the rooms a more cheery appearance and help workers focus.
"Good. All packed up. I'm looking forward to the big move now," Jo replied.
"I still wish there was something I could say to change your mind," Claire said a little sadly.
"I know you do. But I've made up my mind. I've loved every bit of working for you and I couldn't ask for a nicer boss. But the job in New Orleans is such a good offer, I just can't turn it down," Jo said sadly.
"I know, I know," Claire sighed. "I'm just going to miss you. Who's going to organise my desk for me now?" she joked.
"Well hopefully you might have learnt a thing or two about organisation from me in the years we've been working together," Jo smiled.
"I can't help it," Claire shrugged. "Mac was always the organised one. I was always the big mess."
"You're hardly a big mess," Jo chuckled. "And anyway I'm sure my replacement will be almost as fabulous as I am."
Claire leant forward and picked up a file from her desk. "She's supposed to be arriving any minute now."
"Where's she coming from?" Jo asked.
"Washington. She worked for the F.B.I there," Claire recited as she rifled through the pages.
"The F.B.I? Wow," Jo murmured. "She married?"
"Divorced. But she has two kids," Claire said as she put the file down and looked up.
"Well if she's single then maybe the two of you can have a girls night out on the town sometime. It's about time you found yourself someone nice," Jo said sternly.
"Jo!" Claire exclaimed.
"Excuse me, might you be Claire Taylor?" a voice interrupted from the doorway.
Claire looked up and smiled at the dark haired woman who stood there. "Come in," she smiled. "Stella Stellason meet Jo Danville."
"Oh Dear Lord don't call me that. It's Stella Bonasera now. And Good Lord aren't you a pretty thing," Stella smiled as she came in and shook Jo's hand. Jo raised her eyebrows at Claire who shrugged.
"Um, thanks?" Jo muttered, laughing.
"Well it's just so darn lovely to meet y'all and be here in this big ol' city of yours," Stella added as she smiled at the two women.
"So you like New York?" Jo asked. She was very fond of her home city and would be sad to leave it behind even she was going to her dream job.
"Who couldn't?" Stella exclaimed. "Though it is a bit far from the ol' homestead for me. I sure will miss my Mama," she sighed.
"And how are your kids settling in?" Claire asked politely.
"Oh they're just fine," Stella smiled warmly.
"Well how about we all go and get a bite to eat then?" Claire suggested as she stood up and looked at the other two.
"Great," Jo nodded.
"Well hot diggety, if that doesn't sound fabulous," Stella agreed as the three women went towards the door. Just at that moment there was a tap and Hawkes came in.
"Lab tech," Jo whispered to Stella. "Not the brightest," she added.
"Sorry Claire, I just had to come and tell you this. I've just read the funniest thing..." Hawkes laughed, holding his stomach as he tried to breathe.
Claire and Jo rolled their eyes at one another in exasperation.
"Hey, Angie," Lindsay grinned as she hurried into the precinct and took a seat at the side of her best friend's desk.
"Lindso, what's up?" Angell smiled in reply as she finished writing up the section of her report she was on and then looked up. Her eye was suddenly caught by the tall dark figure strutting past her desk and she smiled, raising one eyebrow seductively at him and fluttering her eyelashes before looking back at Lindsay.
"I saw that," Lindsay chuckled.
"Saw what?" Angell said defensively.
"I think everybody saw that," Lindsay replied.
"So what?" Angell shrugged. "Flack is one fine piece of ass."
Lindsay burst out laughing, much to the disdain of the other officers mulling around. "You are such a slut!" she exclaimed.
"Says you," Angell replied. "But he is so damn hot, don't you agree?"
"I dunno, Angie. I heard he's got four older sisters that mollycoddle him so much it'd be hard to get your foot in the door. You'll have your work cut out trying to impress them," Lindsay mused aloud.
"Aww they'll love me. Who doesn't? And he'd have his work cut out too. Imagine him trying to impress my Ma. She's a NYPD legend, best detective there's been in years," Angell scoffed.
"Oh yeah," Lindsay smiled. "Ah well, he's all yours anyway, hun. I have my sights set on someone else."
"So I take it it's over with Richard then?" Angell asked.
"It never even started with him. This other guy is so much finer," Lindsay smiled.
"I don't suppose this has anything to do with that new CSI from Montana. I've seen you making eyes at him," Angell grinned, waggling her eyebrows knowingly.
"Maybe," Lindsay replied, a glazed look over her eyes. "Though he's obsessed with wheatfields. I mean what is that, right? He should have become a farmer or summin."
Angell chuckled. "I can just see you going off with a farm boy and being a farmer's wife. Big City girl leaves the bright lights for a small backwater village where you have to pee in a hut in the back garden."
"No way am I ever peeing in a hut," Lindsay frowned.
"I bet that Montana guy has," Angell smiled. "What's his name again?"
"Messer," Lindsay said dreamily.
"Messer? What kinda name is that?" Angell laughed.
"I know right?" Lindsay replied. "Messer from Montana."
The two girls laughed loudly together and once again received multiple looks of annoyance from the other cops who were working hard in the bullpen.
"Ahem," coughed a voice nearby to them. "Have either of you seen Detective Flack? I was supposed to meet him here."
Lindsay looked up and then blushed terribly as she saw the new guy standing right beside her. Angell simply looked incredibly pleased with herself and went back to writing her report, sniggering quietly.
"Oh, hey Montana. Yeah he's around here somewhere, we just saw him. He'll probably be back in a moment," Lindsay replied.
"Thanks," Danny nodded frowning slightly as he heard the name Montana.
"So how are you finding it in the Big Apple?" Lindsay asked politely.
"Yeah, it's good. Quite different. I still kinda miss the wheatfields..."
Danny stopped talking as a loud snort emanating from Angell distracted him.
"Oh err, sorry, sinuses," Angell muttered and then turned back to the paperwork.
Lindsay stared at Angell in embarrassment and felt her face go red. Hopefully Danny wouldn't notice.
"Um, I guess it'll take a lot of getting used to, it's such a big place," she mumbled.
"Yeah. Small town boy in the big city, it's an adventure," Danny grinned.
"Hey, Danny," Flack said cheerily coming over and immediately Angell's head came up and she smiled at the tall, rather shy detective.
"Hey, Flack," she muttered.
"Oh, hey Jess," he said, a slight pink tinge appearing on his cheeks.
"Flack," Lindsay nodded. "Angie was just telling me here that she'd love you to meet her mother one day."
Angell's jaw dropped open in horror as she stared at her best friend while Flack looked like someone had forced him to eat something very disgusting and he had now turned a nasty shade of green, instead of the previous pink.
"W..what?" he muttered.
"Your mother isn't she the NYPD legend?" Danny asked, oblivious to all the subtext going on around him.
"That's right," Lindsay smiled. "So what do you say, Flack?"
Angell growled at Lindsay and shoved an elbow as subtly as possible into her friend's ribs. Lindsay grimaced in pain and shot the detective a look.
"Actually, I think that could be a good idea," Flack said quietly, shocking them all, his face going back to pink.
"What?" Lindsay said, annoyed her plan to embarrass Angell had gone wrong.
"What?" Angell said stupidly, certain she had misheard.
"However I think it might be nicer to go out without your mother just a few times beforehand," Flack smiled shyly.
"Well how about an Irish coffee after work then?" Angell grinned as she leant forward over her desk, showing off a bit of cleavage.
"Sure," Flack nodded, smiling happily as his eyes drifted down to Angell's cleavage. He immediately blushed a bright red and looked up at the ceiling.
"Meet you back here at eight?" Angell laughed as she and Lindsay swapped looks of amusement.
"Yeah, fine," Flack coughed at the ceiling.
"It' a date," Angell smiled before she could stop herself. Suddenly it occurred to her what she had just said. "Oh, err..."
"A date," Flack nodded, still at the ceiling. "I'll see you in interrogation room one, Danny," he added and then disappeared out of the room.
"I like that guy" Danny grinned obliviously.
"So does someone else," Lindsay teased.
"Hmm, he was gonna show me around the City a bit after work, where the good places are to go out," Danny frowned suddenly.
"Hey, I'm sure Lindso would just love to do that instead," Angell spoke up, getting her own back on her friend.
Danny looked at Lindsay uncertainly. "I dunno," he blushed awkwardly.
"I would love to," Lindsay smiled, standing up beside Danny. "I could show you things that would rock your world."
"I'm sure you could," Angell chuckled, just loud enough for Danny to hear.
"Oh um..." Danny once again blushed.
"I'll pick you up at eight, Montana," Lindsay said, rolling her eyes and then heading out of the bullpen.
"Okay eight...yeah..." Danny nodded and then turned back to Angell. "She's amazing," He gushed. "What's her deal?"
"Just a typical New Yorker," Angell shrugged. "You ought to watch out for us," she added.
Danny frowned at her, utter confusion on his face. New York sure was a strange place. Just at that moment Hawkes appeared from the entrance hall and on seeing Danny and Angell he made his way over.
"Oh God," Angell muttered, quickly standing up. "You're on your own, buddy," she whispered and then quickly fled away out of the other door.
Danny frowned at her back, still confused by all these strange New York people.
"Hey, Danno Spanno," Hawkes chuckled. "Have I just got the funniest thing to tell you!"
Danny sighed as Hawkes started hooting in laughter before he'd even got his sentence out. He was finally coming to understand why people avoided this guy like the plague.
Sid yawned and relaxed back into his desk chair, scratching the back of his head and in doing so knocking his cap off.
"Darn it!" he moaned and then stood up to pick it up, stretching out his aching joints.
"Yo, Sid, nice shirt!" Lindsay smiled as she walked into the A/V lab and glanced over Sid.
Sid looked down at himself. He was wearing a brightly patterned shirt with a waistcoat over it and jeans. He didn't really dress his age but then he was a big kid at heart and had never really grown up. He liked comics, liked computer games and was so obsessed with Star Trek it was unreal.
"Thanks, Linds. You got any idea where Adam is? I wanna talk to him," Sid asked.
"Where he normally is," Lindsay replied, settling down in another chair.
"Urgh, I don't wanna go up there. It spooks me right up," Sid replied, shivering and making a face.
Just at that second he glanced up and saw Hawkes exit the elevator a big grin on his face. "Actually you know what? I think I will go find him."
"What? Why?" Lindsay asked, sitting up and realising there must be a reason for Sid to run off so quickly. She saw Hawkes making his way along the corridor.
"Don't you dare leave me with him!" Lindsay hissed.
"Too late," giggled Sid and sprinted off out of the door, running past Hawkes and ignoring the younger man shouting at him.
"Lindsaaaayyyyy..." Hawkes grinned as he sauntered into the A/V lab.
"You know what, I'm kinda busy here Hawkes," Lindsay muttered.
"Aw you're never too busy for one of Hawkes' infamous yarns!"
Lindsay banged her head on the desk, reminding herself to murder Sid when he came back.
Sid waited for the elevator to ascend to the street level and then exited into the morgue.
"Yo, Ad!" Sid said merrily as he entered the room where Sid was working. "Oh...gross! Gross, gross, gross!" he moaned as he saw the carved up body on the table.
"Sidney, there is nothing gross about the human body," Adam tutted as he straightened up and stared at Sid crossly.
"I dunno, all the goo there, I mean, what is that stuff...do I have it?" Sid shivered.
"Yes," Adam said in exasperation.
"Urgh" Sid replied.
"The human body is a marvellous thing, full or wonder and intrigue," Adam stated as he once more bent over the body on the slab and scraped something off with a medical instrument. He looked up to see Sid looking rather green.
"Oh for goodness sake," he moaned and then covered the body up. "I'll continue later. Was there something you wanted?"
"Umm..." Sid muttered eyes still staring at the cloth covered body.
"He's not going to bite, you know?" Adam said. "This specimen was rather fascinating actually. I think I'll be having dreams about this one tonight," he grinned.
"What?" Sid suddenly asked, frowning in confusion.
"Dreams..."Adam sighed.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Lieutenant Uhura..." Sid drifted off.
"Ahem," Adam suddenly coughed rather embarrassedly.
"Oh yeah," Sid laughed nervously. "Well, anyway, I was just wondering if you'd finished with my X-Men trilogy boxset."
"Not yet I'm afraid. Did you need it back now?" Adam asked.
"Nah, just wanted to check you hadn't forgotten you have it. I can't even remember why you said you wanted it now anyway," Sid shrugged.
"Experimentation," Adam laughed. "Mutants, mutating cells, medical experimentation, it really is..."
"I don't wanna know," Sid interrupted quickly.
"But you really must..."
The morgue phone began to ring at that precise moment and Sid breathed a sigh of relief. He removed his cap and wiped his sweaty brow. Noting one of his purple Converse had come undone he knelt down to tie it back up again while Adam finished up on the phone.
"That was Claire. She wants us all down in the conference room now," Adam stated, sliding the body away and removing his gloves.
"Come on then," Sid nodded as the two men went to the elevator and pressed for the lower thirty-fifth floor.
They exited at the right level and then went on into the conference room. Most of the others were already there. Claire was sat at the head of the table with Jo to her right, curly hair still bouncing despite the woman herself not actually moving, and a strange dark-haired lady to her left. Lindsay was sat next to Jo leaning casually back in her chair while the new CSI Messer was sat opposite her. Sid looked on in shock as he saw Lindsay blow him a kiss and his cheeks light up a bright red colour in embarrassment. Angell was sat next to Lindsay, the two of them chuckling with one another and Flack sat next to her. He looked rather awkward and Sid was sure that Angell's hand looked to be resting on his leg. The shy detective suddenly jumped and let out a quiet yelp, unintentionally confirming Sid's suspicions immediately. He and Adam took their seats next to Danny and then waited for Claire to speak.
"Where's Hawkes?" Claire asked.
"He's on his way. He said he just had to tell something to the other lab techs," Lindsay replied.
Claire sighed in frustration and then carried on. "Well I'd like to introduce Stella Bonasera to you all. She'll be replacing Jo starting from next week."
"And I'm just so darn excited to start working here," Stella smiled as she stood up. "My Mama always said New York was full of lovely people like you."
The others all gawped at her in confusion and surprise when Hawkes suddenly burst in chuckling to himself.
"Hey guy, hey guys, I've just gotta tell you this thing...It's so funny..."
Everyone groaned loudly.