Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: NY.
Series: 'Kindred Spirits'.
Spoilers: And Here's to You, Mrs. Azrael; Oedipus Hex.
And Here's To You, Mrs. Azrael
It had been a hellish week.
In fact, it had been one of those weeks that would have made Jess want to go home, curl up in a ball and cry, if she weren't a woman who firmly believed that crying didn't help the matter at all.
A young pregnant woman had been murdered by her ex-boyfriend, the father of her child, and she had been forced to watch him walk out of the precinct with a smile on his face due to lack of evidence; they didn't even have the murder weapon.
To top it off, Jess had left work and run into the woman's distraught mother, desperate for some sort of comfort. All she could do was apologise quietly, unable to meet her eyes.
Not even a sitcom marathon had been enough to cheer her up and she had fallen asleep on her couch, unable to rid herself of the image that had greeted her at the scene, the victim's hands still clutching her stomach in a last-ditch attempt to protect her unborn child.
Jess woke with a start the next morning, feeling as though she hadn't slept at all, to a loud banging at her door.
She staggered to her feet, her body screaming in protest as she stretched, padding over to look through the peephole.
What she saw surprised her and she pulled the door open. "Don, what are you doing here?"
"A guy can't visit his partner?" Don asked in response.
"He can." Jess glanced down as he ran his gaze over her with a smirk, realising that she was dressed in mismatched shorts and a tank-top, having changed into the first things she'd found the previous night. She blushed lightly. "I'd … er … better go change."
"You can stay like that if you want." Don offered. "But you'll be a little underdressed."
"Underdressed for what?" Jess called from her bedroom.
"If I told you, it'd ruin the surprise." Don responded. "Just wear something you don't mind getting messed up."
Throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, Jess ran a brush through her hair, pulling it back into a high ponytail. "Not very helpful, Flack." She rejoined him, pulling her bedroom door closed. "And why are you so upbeat? After the week you had, you should be as depressed as me."
Everyone at the precinct had heard about Don's case; two girls had been involved in an accident, one had died, but the paramedics had misidentified them and the mother of the dead girl had killed the survivor as she began waking up in ICU, only to be informed that she had actually killed her daughter.
"You got everything?" Don asked in response; she nodded. "Good. C'mon." Without waiting for a response, he seized her wrist and dragged her out of her apartment and down to his car.
"You know, I'm fairly sure kidnapping's a felony." Jess commented, as he released her again.
"You can arrest me later." Don opened the car door for her. "Right now, we've got an appointment to keep."
"Is this appointment gonna make me feel better?" Jess asked warily.
"Of course." Don grinned. "That's why you're coming."
Jess couldn't help laughing; his enthusiasm was infectious. "I assume there'll be …"
"Food?" Don handed her a bagel and coffee.
"Thanks." Jess decided that her best option was not to question what was happening and eat while she still could, because, whatever Don's plan was, she had a feeling that it wasn't going to be that relaxing.
And she was alright with that; she needed something to take her mind off of everything that had happened that week.
But she was still surprised when Don pulled up outside a run-down building, with a basketball court out front and what looked like the edge of a softball field just visible behind.
"Welcome to the YMCA." Don grinned.
"I knew you helped out here sometimes," Jess began, "but I wasn't expecting this."
"Every Saturday I don't have a case, I'm here." Don told her as they headed towards the doors. "Mostly to help them, but there is a slightly selfish side to it. You'll see what I mean."
Inside, a good thirty or forty children were running around, some playing games, some reading books, others drawing or colouring.
Adults were dotted around here and there, but Don headed straight for a harried-looking blonde woman near the door, who was tying shoelaces for a little girl who was chattering away.
"Jackie." Don greeted.
"Don." She returned, straightening up.
The little girl broke off with a squeal and threw herself at Don, who caught her easily, giving her a hug.
"Hey, Hannah." He ruffled her hair. "How's your grandma doin'?"
"She's good. You caught him." Hannah beamed at him. "Momma says thank you."
Don laughed. "Well, now, if you thank me, you gotta thank Jess as well, cause she's a cop too."
Hannah gave Jess a hug too. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." Jess gave Don a questioning look over her head.
"I'm sure you'll find out later." Don chuckled. "Jackie Watson, this is Jessica Angell, my partner."
"Hi." Jackie shook her hand. "You play sports?"
"I'm not much of a basketball player." Jess admitted. "But everything else … Family of boys; it was either that, or I was always left out."
"Softball it is then." Jackie concluded, handing her a bat.
By the time parents began to arrive that afternoon to collect their children, Jess was exhausted, but in a good way.
In short talks with other volunteers, she had found out that many of the female helpers worked in offices and, as a result, as word began to spread that she was a detective and many of the older girls began to gravitate towards her over the course of the day.
And, though her earlier annoyance still lingered at the back of her mind, Jess had to admit that Don was right; she felt a lot better.
She was sitting at a craft table with some of the younger children, cutting out one of their pictures, when she caught sight of Hannah dragging two women over to her.
"Mommy, Grandma, Jess is a cop too!"
Jess handed the drawing in her hand to the young boy, who thanked her with a smile, and turned to them. "Hi, Hannah."
"Hi!" Hannah gave her a card. "This is for you!"
"Oh." Jess glanced at the front cover, seeing someone vaguely dressed in an NYPD uniform and another man lying on the floor. Inside, painstakingly written, were the words, Deer Jess, thanc yoo for helping my gramar wen her howse wos robed. Love Hannah.
It took Jess a couple of seconds to translate seven-year-old spelling into what it was supposed to say and, when she had, she accepted Hannah's hug with a smile. "You're welcome, sweetheart."
Hannah's grandmother shook her hand. "I know you probably weren't on the case, Detective, but thank you. Everyone was wonderful about it, even if nothing valuable was taken."
"It's our job, ma'am." Jess pointed out, turning a little red.
"Well, I'm sure you all had other things to worry about." She protested. "That poor woman who lived next door to Shelly, for one."
"Lily Enfield." Her daughter, Hannah's mother, filled in.
The name struck a cord. "My case." Jess nodded, her earlier frustration returning. "Can't say much about it, of course. I thought I recognised you." She'd spoken to the woman a few days previously, canvassing the building for witnesses.
"Detective Angell." Shelly remembered. "Small world."
"You wouldn't let me speak to her." Hannah said.
"Well, something very bad happened to Lily, honey." Shelly told her.
"She was shot." Hannah corrected. "That's worse than very bad."
"How did you know she was shot, Hannah?" Jess asked curiously.
"Because I was playing outside and I heard the bang." Hannah answered simply. "Then a man came out and threw something in the bushes. I went to have a look, but I didn't touch it, because Mommy told me never to touch guns."
Jess hugged her again. "Hannah, you just made my week."
"You look happier." Don commented from behind her. "What happened?"
"New witness." Jess grinned.
"Go." Don told her immediately, handing her his car keys. "Get him."
"Come on!" Jess sighed. "You're killin' me here, Linds!"
"Science can't be rushed, Angell." Lindsay chided gently, examining the bullet sample she'd taken from the gun Jess had retrieved from outside the apartment building. "You wanna tell me how no one found this earlier?"
Jess sighed. "I made the mistake of getting a couple of unis to search. Shoulda done it myself."
"Not your fault." Lindsay said kindly. "Let's just hope this guy's still there; the bullets match and we have an AFIS match to the ex-boyfriend."
"Thank you." Jess grinned. "You coming?"
"Hell, yeah." Lindsay signed the chain of evidence and made sure everything was filed properly. "I'm right behind you."
So, 45 minutes later, Jess stood on her prime suspect's doorstep, warrant in hand. He opened the door with a weary sigh.
"Detective, you have no evidence and no right to be here. If you continue to harass me, I'll call my attorney."
"Good, you're going to need one." Jess held up the warrant. "James Patterson, you're under arrest for the murder of Lillian Enfield."
AN: I was reading a review of this episode the other day and it was a pretty bad one, because it was 'unrealistic', since the girls wouldn't be misidentified like that, but it is possible and it has happened. I know it probably should bug me but I just get really annoyed when people talk out of their asses.
This wasn't one of the options on the poll people voted for, but I got struck by an idea and it wouldn't go away. As always, please review!